Month: November 2018

Lori Seller, Marie Eve-Bouthillier, Veronique Fraser

Abstract

Background Medical aid in dying (MAiD) was introduced in Quebec in 2015. Quebec clinical guidelines recommend that MAiD be approached as a last resort when other care options are insufficient; however, the law sets no such requirement. To date, little is known about when and how requests for MAiD are situated in the broader context of decision-making in end-of-life care; the timing of MAiD raises potential ethical issues.

Methods A retrospective chart review of all MAiD requests between December 2015 and June 2017 at two Quebec hospitals and one long-term care centre was conducted to explore the relationship between routine end-of-life care practices and the timing of MAiD requests.

Results Of 80 patients requesting MAiD, 54% (43) received the intervention. The median number of days between the request for MAiD and the patient’s death was 6 days. The majority of palliative care consults (32%) came less than 7 days prior to the MAiD request and in another 25% of cases occurred the day of or after MAiD was requested. 35% of patients had no level of intervention form, or it was documented as 1 or 2 (prolongation of life remains a priority) at the time of the MAiD request and 19% were receiving life-prolonging interventions.

Interpretation We highlight ethical considerations relating to the timing of MAiD requests within the broader context of end-of-life care. Whether or not MAiD is conceptualised as morally distinct from other end-of-life options is likely to influence clinicians’ approach to requests for MAiD as well as the ethical importance of our findings. We suggest that in the wake of the 2015 legislation, requests for MAiD have not always appeared to come after an exploration of other options as professional practice guidelines recommend.

Lynn A. Jansen, Steven Wall, Franklin G. Miller

Abstract

Drawing the line on physician assistance in physician-assisted death (PAD) continues to be a contentious issue in many legal jurisdictions across the USA, Canada and Europe. PAD is a medical practice that occurs when physicians either prescribe or administer lethal medication to their patients. As more legal jurisdictions establish PAD for at least some class of patients, the question of the proper scope of this practice has become pressing. This paper presents an argument for restricting PAD to the terminally ill that can be accepted by defenders as well as critics of PAD for the terminally ill. The argument appeals to fairness-based paternalism and the social meaning of medical practice. These two considerations interact in various ways, as the paper explains. The right way to think about the social meaning of medical practice bears on fair paternalism as it relates to PAD and vice versa. The paper contends that these considerations have substantial force when directed against proposals to extend PAD to non-terminally ill patients, but considerably less force when directed against PAD for the terminally ill. The paper pays special attention to the case of non-terminally ill patients who suffer from treatment-resistant depression, as these patients present a potentially strong case for extending PAD beyond the terminally ill.

Elaine Loughlin

A new HSE helpline will provide women seeking
terminations with the names of doctors in their locality who
provide abortion services.

The helpline which is being set up in tandem with the rollout of abortion services after the passing of the historic referendum to repeal the eighth amendment, will provide advice on options and support to women. . . [Full text]

Toronto’s Sick Kids hospital drafting policy on requests for assisted dying from those over 18

CBC Radio

Duncan McCue

Three years after Canada’s top court decriminalized
doctor-assisted suicide, the federal government is about to
wade into an emerging controversy: How to respond to
requests from children for medical assistance in dying, or
MAID.

Canada’s largest children’s hospital has already gotten a
taste of this thorny issue.

“We had discussed that there may be a time in the future
that MAID would be available for patients under the age of
18, or a group called ‘mature minors,'” said Dr. Adam
Rapoport, director of the Pediatric Advanced Care team at
Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children.

“We, as an organization, like to be ready for things that might be coming down the pike.” . . .[Full text]

Ailbhe Conneely

GPs who organised a petition calling on the Irish College
of General Practitioners to hold an Extraordinary General
Meeting on the provision of abortion services in Ireland,
have described the decision to hold it in four weeks time as
“wholly unacceptable”.

The 2 December EGM was announced in a statement by the ICGP board this evening, after it received a petition from hundreds of General Practitioners, who are concerned about the introduction of GP-led abortion services here. . . . [Full text]

Audrey McAvoy, Associated Press

HONOLULU (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union
demanded Thursday that a Hawaii retirement home stop
discriminating against non-Catholic residents and allow them
to take advantage of the state’s new medically assisted
suicide law if they wish.

The ACLU of Hawaii sent a letter to the executive director of the Kahala Nui home after receiving an anonymous tip that the home had notified residents they would not be permitted to exercise the provisions of the law, which takes effect in January. . . [Full text]

Janine Brown, Lilian Thorpe, Donna Goodridge

Abstract

Policies and practices have been developed to operationalize assisted dying processes in Canada. This project utilized an environmental scan to determine the spectrum of assisted death reporting practices and medical certificate of death (MCD) completion procedures both nationally and internationally. Findings suggest medically assisted dying (MAiD) is represented on the MCD inconsistently nationally and internationally. Related factors include the specifics of local assisted death legislation and variations in death-reporting legislation, variation in terminology surrounding assisted death and designated oversight agency for assisted dying reporting.